Senator Johnston asked the Minister representing the Minister for Defence Materiel, upon notice, on 5 March 2012:

With reference to the major project Establishment of Tactical Assault Group (East) JP 2088 Phase 1, can the following details be provided:

(a) the date that the project was first proposed to Government as a major capital equipment initiative;

(b) the date of the first estimated date, time period, for first pass approval, as per the Defence Capability Plan (DCP), or when it was first proposed to Government;

(c) the date of the first estimated date, time period, for second pass approval, as per the DCP, or when it was first proposed to Government;

(d) the date of first pass approval;

(e) the date of second pass approval;

(f) the estimated acquisition cost when first proposed to Government;

(g) the amount spent to date on this project;

(h) the current estimated acquisition cost;

(i) the date of estimated initial operational capability when first proposed to Government;

(j) the current date of estimated initial operational capability; and

(k) the reason(s) for the delay in this project, if applicable.

Senator Chris Evans: The Minister for Defence Materiel has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

The information you are seeking would require considerable research into historical Defence Capability Plans and project approval/management documents, and as such, is considered an unjustified diversion of resources from the Capability Development Group's core business.

Publicly available documents such as the Public Defence Capability Plan, Portfolio Budget Statements and the Defence Annual Report provide some detail on the information being sought.